Resources e-letter 16:6 - December 2016
There are outlines here of the latest sets of Training Notes to be uploaded. TN97, How to minute a meeting, and TN98, An outline Church Financial Policy, plus news of a site development to make it more secure.
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NEW: ‘How to minute a meeting’
Minutes of a church business meeting need to be accurate, clear and immediate. These notes provide helpful advice to enable all three aims to be achieved. They consists of
- Five reasons for minutes – the key idea is to record decisions not discussions
- Five skills to develop – such as listening and attention to detail
- Five ways to prepare – success is formed before the meeting begins
- Five actions at the meeting – such as being ready to ask for clarification
- Five top tips for production – including a range of simple ideas for great minutes.
The Notes then provide an example of how a 45-minute discussion can be minuted well in just a few lines. Please share these notes with everyone who takes minutes in your church.
How to minute a meeting is now available at TN97 on the Training Notes page of the website.
NEW: ‘An outline Church Financial Policy’
Here is a template for setting out policies on a wise and godly approach to financial issues in church. This consists of a wide range of topics for policies within nine categories:
- Key principles
- Teaching about giving and possessions
- Congregational giving
- Fees and trading income
- Staffing and other revenue expenditure
- Financial administration
- Accounts
- Capital projects
- Global mission
This coherent approach to this vital area of church life will be of value to all trustee bodies (including PCCs) but especially church leaders and financial team members.
An outline Church Financial Policy is now available at TN98 on the Training Notes page of the website.
Important announcement: website security
There have been major breaches of security in well-known brand routers and websites over the past week. I take website security very seriously, even though my site holds no personal financial details.
From early in January the site will have an SSL certificate and you will notice that its address starts https instead of http. You do not need to do anything – current web-links will work perfectly well and, apart from the address, you should not notice any difference.
BUT, for the very few people still on Windows XP and with web browser Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), you will not be able to access the site any longer and will see an error message when you try. If you have Windows XP and use a browser such as Firefox, there should not be any problem. This is an IE8 issue.
Neither XP nor IE8 is supported by Microsoft any longer and, if you are using either, you are strongly advised to upgrade. I apologise if this switch causes one or two people problems but security is so vital these days and I feel this is the right move to make. If you have any questions about this, please get in touch.
Cutting Edge conference bookings
If you have senior administrative or operational staff in your church, please ensure they are booked in for the Cutting Edge residential conference next March. We already have as many bookings as last time but have now been given more places at King’s Park in Northampton so can take more. Details on the UCAN events page of the website.
Thank you for your interest in the Resources section of my website and with my warmest good wishes for Christmas to everyone.